Gina Lollobrigida

Sean Connery

Ralph Richardson

Alexander Knox

Johnny Sekka

Peter Madden

Danny Daniels

Laurence Hardy

Michael Goodliffe

André Morell

Noel Howlett

Douglas Wilmer

A. J. Brown

Robert Bruce

Georgina Cookson

Michael Corcoran

George Curzon

Gilda Dahlberg

Basil Dearden

Catherine Arley

Michael Relph

Otto Heller

Robert Muller

Stanley Mann

Susan Dyson

John D. Guthridge

Ken Adam

Peter Murton

Beatrice Dawson

Crime

Drama

Thriller

Woman of Straw

Michael Relph Productions

United Artists

United Kingdom

CinemaSerf

I was pleasantly surprised with this film. "Charles" (Sir Ralph Richardson) is a wealthy man, a bully and an odious sort of creature, but one who has taken a shine to his nurse "Maria" (Gina Lollobrigida). She, in turn, has taken to the wastrel nephew "Tony" (Sean Connery) who is trying to manipulate her into marrying the old man for his £50m fortune then the two of them can spend it once he has shaken off his mortal coil. There is a slightly convoluted back story, but aside from that it is a simple and engaging tale of good old fashioned greed and avarice. It's cleverly tempered by just a shade of jeopardy - you are never entirely sure who is going to stab who in the back. You just know this is not going to end up with everything smelling of roses! It is long, and maybe could have shaved twenty minutes from the plot development stages - it is pretty obvious how the theme is going to pan out, but once it gets up an head of steam it's well written, well directed and all three work well together to create an entertaining feature that offers a pretty savage indictment on human venality.

English

Blu-ray Trailer

Trailer